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Comment by sul_tasto | Hacker News Reader

Then the democrats should have passed legislation targeting the root of the college affordability problem, not a one-off. This legislation doesn’t solve anything.

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Someone else said something similar, that this is "unfair" because it doesn't solve the root of the problem. We're all STEM folks here, most of us are developers, so let me ask you a hypothetical: imagine you're developing an app. You develop a proof-of-concept and show it to the client. They turn to you and say, "we're not paying you for the time you took to make this; it's not the full app". What would you think? Progress is not binary.

This policy doesn't solve the whole problem, but it is a step in the right direction. Consider it a proof of concept: if this policy can show the feasibility of forgiving existing student loan debt that's piled up over many decades, then it should pave the way for future policies which can better subsidize new loans -- a far lower cost.

Obviously, the root of the problem lies with privatization of education and capitalism, but those are things so ingrained in our society that we basically can't expect to ever fix them. Working our way towards better subsidies is the next best goal.

There was a discussion in the democratic party at the beginning of the Biden administration about offering the first two years of community college for free, similar to what’s been done in Tennessee. This plan was scrapped after universities lobbied the democrats out of fear that it would hurt their bottom line- that is, actually make the cost of college more affordable. This is something that would have benefited everyone, especially the working class. That would have been fair. This half measure is most definitely not a “step in the right direction.” Indeed, your suggestion of finding a way to subsidize new loans at lower cost is exactly what has caused the cost of college to explode - which I’m sure would receive the ardent backing of universities in the US.

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